


An Interlude Before the Fire

by DemiCas



Category: Cardcaptor Sakura
Genre: Character Study, Ficlet, Gen, Gentle, Platonic (for now), Short, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-23
Updated: 2016-12-23
Packaged: 2018-09-11 10:22:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8975851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemiCas/pseuds/DemiCas
Summary: Yue, newly created, and Clow have a heart-to-heart on a rainy English night.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short ficlet I wrote to cheer up a friend a long, long time ago.
> 
> Spoilers: Not really a spoiler for anything, but only makes sense if you know the canon relationship between the characters.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own nothin'. I just like playing in other people's gardens.

.

Yue stood silhouetted in the doorway, his hair unbound and coiling around his bare feet. “Clow?” he said softly, his voice hesitant, barely a whisper. “Master?”

Clow put his book down in his lap and folded his hands. “Yue?” he said gently, “Is something troubling you?” Rain lashed the large bay window behind his chair, and a sudden draught howling down the chimney made the fire flicker and spark.

Yue lowered his violet eyes and ran a lock of silver hair through his fingers. “I was wondering, Master...I have washed my hair and I’m having trouble untangling it. You offered...that is, I was wondering...”

Clow smiled and rose to his feet, tall and dark against the rain-washed window. “Of course, Yue. Have you brought a comb?”

“Yes, Clow.”

“Come and sit before me, then.”

Clow moved his chair closer to the fire, for it was a chill March afternoon and although the Moon Guardian could not become ill, he could feel the cold. Clow settled himself in the brown leather depths, moving his knees apart so Yue could sit between them.

Clow gathered the fine silky hair in his hands, enjoying the feel of it even damp as it was. At his touch, Yue sighed and relaxed his body, usually so straight and proper, then tilted his head back slightly, closing his eyes. Clow gazed for a moment in silence at silver-feather eyelashes laid against the ivory cheek, at the fine curve of eyebrow, at the sweep of delicate ears. Then Yue stirred, and Clow took the bone comb and began to pull it through the fall of moonlight in his lap. 

“You are so beautiful, Yue, more beautiful even than I imagined when I created you.”

Yue’s eyes fluttered open, and Clow thought he saw a blush of pink on the Guardian’s cheeks. “I am what you made me, Master. How could I be more?”

Clow kept up the sweeping rhythms of his combing, stopping only now and then to pry a stubborn knot apart with gentle fingers. “Magic,” he said thoughtfully, almost more to himself than to Yue, “is a peculiar thing. It exists in a state of continual flux, but it can be bound, by those with the skill, to follow certain laws. That is how magicians create their spells, by imposing rules upon chaos. But the chaos is always there, struggling to be free. When one performs a great work of magic, as I did when I created you and Keroberos, some of that wildness will creep in and add a bit of uncertainty to the work. Keroberos, for instance, came out a bit more headstrong than I had planned, but stronger as well. And you, my Yue...” Clow brushed loose strands of silver away from Yue’s cheek. “You are more beautiful, yet more closed than I had intended. You are moonlight caught in a crystal vase, clear and lovely and unattainable.”

Yue turned his body between Clow’s knees, laying a hand upon his Master’s thigh. His face was troubled. “I am sorry I am not what you wanted, Clow,” he said, his voice breaking a little. “I try to be as you wish...”

Clow smiled and touched Yue’s face briefly. “Don’t be sorry. You are what you are. Not even I can have everything as I desire it. And even so, now that I know the true Yue, I would not have you any other way.”

Yue’s expression unclouded, and he looked up at Clow with clear eyes. “Thank you, Master. I love you.”

Clow leaned forward and kissed the top of his creation’s silver-white head. His hair smelled of jasmine. “I know, Yue. I love you, too.”

The fire roared in the hearth, its warm light limning the two figures as they sat quietly together in the library, the master combing the creation’s hair, the rain making soft music on the roof and windows.


End file.
